The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Ilorin

  • Offa robbery: Absence of witnesses stall hearing of suspects

    Hearing on Offa robbery suspects at the Kwara state High Court sitting in Ilorin, was on Monday stalled by the failure of prosecution to produce witnesses in court.

    As a result, the court at its resumed hearing on Monday, adjourned the case to January 18, 2019, for definite hearing.

    The five accused persons brought before the court were Ayoade Akinnibosun, Ibikunle Ogunleye, Adeola Abraham, Salaudeen Azeez and Niyi Ogundiran.

    The April 5th 2018 bloody bank robbery incident claimed 33 lives including nine policemen and women.

    The accused were charged alleged conspiracy, armed robbery, murder, Culpable Homicide and illegal possession of firearms.

    When the case which was slated for definite hearing Monday came up, Kwara state Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Jimoh, Mumini said that the police who investigated the case could not bring their witnesses who are all in the Force Headquarters in Abuja to the court.

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    The DPP added that “all the witnesses in the robbery case are policemen who investigated the case and they are all from the Police Headquarters in Abuja. No witness was taken from Offa where the robbery took place and non from Kwara state. ”

    Mr Mumini said that all efforts he made to the police Assistant Inspector General David Igodo who is in charge of Police investigation and Mr Abba Kyari, a Deputy Commissioner of Police who led the investigation team to Kwara state to produce the witnesses in court did not yield any result.

    The DPP said, “on the 10th of December, 2018, I wrote a letter to the AIG, Mr Igodo which I copied to this honorable court to make available all witnesses in this case in court today. I followed it up with phone calls on January 2, 4 and 6, 2019. It was at about 8.07 pm yesterday (Sunday) that Abba Kyari, DCP told me that the witnesses will leave Abuja for Ilorin this morning. I told him that the court would sit at 9am. The AIG then told me to beg the court for short adjournment.”

    He, however, sought for short adjournment for the case from the court.

    The Defence Counsel, Mathias Emeribe said that the prosecution was not ready to go on with the case.
    He did not however oppose to the adjournment.

    He pleaded with the court to order the prosecution to serve him with the amended charge of the case as well as the confessional statements of the five accused persons.

    In his ruling, the trial Judge, Justice Halimat Salman said that she was adjourning the case till January 18, 2019 because the police failed to make the witnesses available in court.

    She then vacated the definite hearing order slated for today and ordered that the police should send down all the witnesses to Ilorin for the definite hearing of the case on Friday next week, 18th January, 2019.

  • Institute to revive campaign to deepen Insurance penetration

    The Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN), on Monday said it would step up its campaign to attract more Nigerians to embrace Insurance to protect their property in 2019.

    The President of the CIIN, Mr Eddie Efekoha told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that less than three million Nigerians had no type of insurance cover.

    He said the campaign would enlighten Nigerians and assist them to take up insurance policies.

    According to him, the campaign will also tackle financial exclusion and other related challenges.

    Efekoha said that in spite the long existence of insurance in the country, its penetration had not grown beyond 1.19 per cent.

    He said that as part of the agenda to commence the campaign, the institute would pay homage to traditional rulers of some towns and cities.

    The CIIN president explained that the essence of the courtesy visits was to enable the institute receive royal blessings and permission to embark on the campaign in their domains.

    According to Efekoha, the campaign is expected to boost insurance penetration by 300 per cent before the first quarter of 2020.

    “The boost will also engineer the insurance industry to increase its quota to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP),’’ he said.

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    The CIIN president said that the institute had already paid homage to His Royal Highness, Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Saliu Adetunji in Dec. 2018 to solicit his support for the campaign.

    “Other cities slated for visits by the institute include Oyo, Ilorin, Ado-Ekiti, Lokoja, and Okene among others,’’ he said.

    Efekoha further said that for insurance to be viable like others sectors of the economy, stakeholders must also embrace retail insurance business that has been neglected.

    According to him, operators have over the years abandoned the insurance retail market thinking that there is no business in the sector.

    “However, they forget that people within the bracket contribute more to the economy,’’ he said.

  • Thugs disrupt TraderMoni in Ilorin

    SUSPECTED Hoodlums yesterday invaded the Mandate Market in Ilorin, Kwara State, to disrupt the disbursement of money to beneficiaries of the TraderMoni.

    They scared away petty traders and agents of the scheme.

    As early as 9am, the suspected hoodlums stormed the Mandate Market, insisting that the TraderMoni scheme cannot be implemented in the market built on a land donated to the state government by the Senate President Bukola Saraki’s father, the late Olusola Saraki.

    It was not clear whether they were sent by anyone or whether they were mere party zealots, working on their own.

    According to witnesses, including Bank of Industry (BOI) officials who were at the market to supervise the enumeration and disbursement of the N10, 000 collateral free loans, the arrival of the mob at Mandate Market caused some uproar.

    The suspected thugs also intimidated the petty traders who had lined up to participate in the programme. Many of the traders were palpably annoyed and refused to leave the market. Calm was restored with the intervention of the police.

    At the Ipata Market, where enumeration and disbursement of the TraderMoni loans were also going on, market leaders reportedly rebuffed pressure from some officials of the state, urging them to shun the enumerators. The programme went on without incident.

    Officials of the Bank of Industry (BoI) told reporters that enumeration had been going on in the two markets in Kwara State in the last few days, without incident until yesterday.

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is expected in the markets today.

    TraderMoni, which is part of the Federal Government’s Social Investment Programme (N-SIP) under GEEP, is designed to assist petty traders across the country expand their trade through the provision of collateral and interest-free loans from N10, 000.

    The loans are repayable over a period of six months at which point the traders on repayment will receive a fresh N15, 000 loan, which rises to N20, 000 when repaid.

    The microcredit scheme, which has since been formally launched nationwide and the FCT, is expected to reach two million petty traders by the end of the year.

  • Unilorin student commits suicide

    A-27 year old student of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) simply identified as Adigun Olawale Emmanuel has reportedly committed suicide.

    The late Olawale was said to have failed in his final year project last session and was made to repeat the current one before his death.

    The deceased, from the Faculty of Agriculture, was believed to have died after he drank a pesticide, Sniper.

    It was gathered that he had a grade of Second Class Upper Division but that with the failed project he would necessarily have to drop to Second Class Lower Division.

    In a social media note left behind, the deceased indicated that he had been accused of ‘copy and paste’, in research his works.

    Some neighbours claimed the deceased had been subject to depression since he failed to make the last graduation list of the institution.

    The incident happened on Thursday night at Oke-Odo, a student-populated area in Ilorin, Kwara state, but the corpse was only discovered on Saturday after neighbours noticed a foul smell oozing out of his room. When the door was broken, his bloated body was found on the floor.

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    Checks indicated that the deceased had communicated his intention to end his life to a female friend who however pleaded with him to have a rethink and face the challenge like most other men in life.

    Records from his social media interactions, the deceased had uploaded a picture of the Sniper on his WhatsApp page at about 5.14 pm, some two hours after he had lamented online about his situation to his friend.

    He had opened the conversation at about 3.39 pm when he said in short statements: ‘same research work. He said I did copy and paste. Ever since then, things changed from bad to worst. Am in a deep mess @the moment. My life don tire me. I feel like dying. I wish I can sleep and not wake up again”.

    His friend however responded with words of encouragement, “Don’t give up bros, it gets better”. And as if he had accepted the admonition, the deceased had then responded, “I pray so, Thanks a lot for your concern. I appreciate a lot. May God continue to bless you. Amen.”

    Having uploaded the Sniper picture, his friend apparently became frantic and pleaded with him not to take any wrong step. The friend said: “Wale abeg, calm down. Abeg You In the Name of God. Nothing Happen wey God no know about ooo please don’t do anything stupid ooooo”.

    When contacted, spokespersons of both the university and the Kwara state police command, Kunle Akogun and Ajayi Okasanmi said they were yet to be briefed about the incident.

    Okasanmi promised though, to get in touch with the appropriate quarters on the development.

  • Court remands two brothers over alleged membership of secret cult

    An Ilorin Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday ordered that two brothers Sadudeen and Olasunkanmi Abdulazeez be remanded in prison custody for allegedly belonging to a secret cult.

    The police charged Sadudeen and Olasunkanmi with five counts of criminal conspiracy, attempt to commit culpable homicide, armed robbery, unlawful possession of firearms and suspected members of secret cult of terrorizing innocent people at Ogidi Area of Ilorin.

    Magistrate Mohammed Ibrahim,  ordered that the accused be remanded at the Federal Prison Yard, Ilorin after he refused to take their plea.

    He adjourned the case unti December 17 for further mention.

    Earlier, the prosecutor, Inspector Nasir Yusuf told the court that Sadudeen and Olasunkanmi, were arrested on November 19 following information received from one of the residents of Ogidi, Kayode Abdullahi, who reported the case at ‘G’ Division, Oloje.

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    He added that when the police searched the brothers, a locally made short gun and one live cartridge were recovered from first accused (Sadudeen).

    The prosecutor, said the offence contravened the provisions of sections 97,229 of Penal Code Law and 6(B)(1)(2) of robbery and firearm (special provision) act, section 14 of secret cult and secret societies (prohibition) law 2016.

    He prayed the court to remand the accused persons in prison custody, saying that the investigation was ongoing.

     

    NAN

  • 2,100 Corps members commence orientation course in Kwara

    A total of 2, 100 National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members have commenced the 2018 batch C Orientation course at its Permanent Orientation Camp in Yikpata, Edu Local Government Area of the Kwara.

    NYSC’s State Coordinator, Mrs Esther Ikupolati, made this known in a statement by the Assistant Director, Public Relations, Dipo Morakinyo, who is also the Camp Director in Ilorin on Friday.

    According to the State Coordinator, Kwara State was one of the 27 States earmarked by the NYSC management to host the second stream of the 2018 batch C orientation course.

    She said the three-week orientation, which commenced on Thursday, November 15 would end on December 5.
    Ikupolati added that 300 camp officials were already on ground to train the Corps members on physical fitness, drilling and entrepreneurial and skill acquisition.

    The State Coordinator added that the orientation course would be officially declared opened on Monday, November 19 with the swearing in of the new corps members.

    She expressed the readiness of the scheme to host the corps members and make their stay during the orientation course memorable.

    According to her, the recently renovated and improved camp facilities are some of the factors that earned Kwara the hosting right.

    “You may recall that the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, personally renovated four female hostels alongside two others renovated by the state secretariat.

    “The perennial water shortage on Yikpata camp is fast becoming a thing of the past, as the NYSC Director General recently constructed a high yielding industrial borehole,” she added.

    NAN

     

  • Four family members die, after `Amala’ meal

    Four members of a family in Ilorin were feared dead after the consumption of `Amala’ meal, suspected to be poisonous.

    lt was reported that four others who took from the meal, had also been hospitalised at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH).

    The incident happened at Magaji-Ogo community behind Kwara State College of Arabic and Islamic Legal Studies, in Ilorin West Local Government Area.

    A source told  our reporter that the victims took the meal on Sunday night before three of them were found dead the following morning.

    According to him, the fourth casualty, who was the head of the family, died on Wednesday.

    “Those feared dead are the family head, his sister and two children, while those recuperating in the hospital are the mother and three other children.

    “The corpses of the deceased had been buried in accordance with Islamic rite. They were eight that took the meal.

    “Though we are not sure yet of the cause of death, the meal was taken alongside amphibian and there is a suspicion that they died of poisoning.

    “Officials from the state Ministry of Health were in the community to take samples of the meal for test but nothing was yet to be said of the findings,’’ the source said.

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    The family, our reporter learnt, is an extension of the District Head of Adewole, popularly known as Alangua Adewole in Ilorin.

    Meanwhile, Dr Oluwatosin Fakayode, Di rector, Public Health and Disease Control in the state Ministry of Health, confirmed the incident.

    He, however, said that the ministry was yet to identify the cause of the “ugly and unfortunate occurrence.”

    Fakayode told  our reporter that samples from the meal were taken for laboratory investigation, which would be out within the next 24 hours.

    “As it stands, it is difficult to say the cause until the result is out.

    “However, we are definite that it is food poison because of the symptoms, but we are not sure of the food item that is culpable.

    “We learnt they took these amphibian that they hawk around with it. So we are not sure if it is the source of the death because some of them are poisonous.

    “Though we have not identified the culprit in terms of whether it is organism or chemical, definitely, it is a symptom of food poison.

    “But our suspicion is the amphibian. It could be preservatives that were used on the items that were used for the meal,’’ he said.

    When a  our correspondent sought confirmation of the Police in Kwara on the incident, its spokesman, DSP Ajayi Okasanmi, said the command was not aware of the incident.

  • Ilorin residents lament over a month blackout.

    Thousands of residents in parts of llorin, the kwara capital, on Friday said they were going through a lot of hardship without electricity since over a month now.

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the affected areas which are in the llorin West Local Government Area of the state include Baboko Alore. Adabata Pakata and Oloje among others.

    Their Spokesman, Alhaji Ismail Alada, told NAN that the total blackout had crippled social and economic activities in these areas.

    He pleaded with the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) to replace the damaged electricity power breakers in some areas in order to restore power so that business activities would continue.

    Alada said that the situation was becoming unbearable for some residents as a result of power outage.

    He alleged that some suspected hoodlums had taken advantage of the power outage to attack some residents and carted away their belongings.

    One of the affected residents, a retired civil servant in the state, Malam Musa Yahaya, said that the power outage had encouraged crimes in all the affected areas.

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    He called on the state government to urgently intervene to save the communities from total darkness and collapse of economic activities.

    Yahaya also implored the management of IBEDC, to as a matter of urgency, ensure that electricity was restored to the affected communities to enhance commercial activities.

    Mr Asaju Kolawole, the Regional Communication Manager of lBEDC, told NAN said the company was aware of the problem.

    He attributed the problem to major fault at transmission station in Sawmill area in llorin.

    Kolawole, however, gave an assurance that repair work had reached advance stage and that the power would soon be restored to all the affected areas.

  • 103 Student bag first class in Unilorin

    The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Professor  Sulyman Abdulkareem, on Friday said that the university produced 103 first class students in 2017/2018 academic session.

    Abdulkareem announced the figure in Ilorin at a press conference to mark the beginning of the 34th convocation ceremonies of the university.

    According to him, the university will graduate a total of 12,108 students at the convocation to take place on Tuesday.

    He said that 10, 330 would be awarded first degrees and diplomas, while 1, 778 would be awarded higher degrees and postgraduate diplomas.

    The vice-chancellor said that 2,553 students would graduate with second class (upper division), 5,750, second class (lower division), and 1,660, third class, while 36 would graduate with pass.

    He said that seven law students from the university made first class grade in the Nigerian Law School, Abuja.

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    Abdulkareem hailed the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) for supporting the university’s efforts in capacity building.

    “The university, through the Centre for International Education’s facilitation, attracted over N16 million as TETFund grants to sponsor staff members to different parts of the world for international conferences,” he said.

    He added that the university was noted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board as the Nigerian university with the highest number of international student enrollment, with about 318 foreign students from 15 countries.

    The vice chancellor said that the university had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Nigerian Army on the invention and development of polymer composite for strategic and protective defence.

    He disclosed that the university invented a bullet-proof gadget which had been tested and accepted by the Nigerian Army.

  • Kwara warns school administrators against unauthorised fees

    The Kwara State Government has warned school administrators collecting unauthorised fees to desist from such act or be sanctioned.

    The Chairman of Kwara State Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM), Alhaji Abdulrasaq Ibrahim, gave the warning on Thursday in Ilorin.

    Ibrahim, in a statement, said that the Kwara Government was committed to free education for all pupils in primary and secondary schools across the state.

    He called on all school administrators to eschew any act that could be detrimental to the growth of education in the state.

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    The TESCOM Chieftain announced that all teaching and non-teaching staff that were successful in the 2015 to 2017 promotion exercise should pick their promotion letters.

    Ibrahim noted that schedules for the collection of the promotion letters are: Friday, Oct. 26: GL 7 to GL 8; Friday, Nov. 2: GL 8 to GL 9; Friday, Nov. 9: GL 9 to GL 10; Friday, Nov. 16: GL 10 to 12.

    He said that letters would be issued on Friday, Nov. 23 for GL 12 to GL13; Friday, Nov. 30 for GL 13 to GL 14; Friday, Dec. 7: GL 14 to GL 15; and Friday, Dec. 14 for GL 15 to GL16.

    He urged officers concerned to report at the TESCOM headquarters on the scheduled dates by 9:00 a.m. with their original certificates, staff identification cards, letters of first appointment, letters of confirmation of appointment and letters of last promotion.